Starknet-based decentralized lending protocol zkLend has officially announced its decision to shutter operations after a major exploit in February that resulted in losses between $9.5 million and $10 million.
The zkLend attacker was able to drain funds by exploiting a decimal precision vulnerability in the protocol’s smart contract code on Starknet.
“This decision was not made lightly. Over recent months, the exploit we suffered has deeply eroded user confidence, and furthermore, the recent removal of ZEND from major exchanges such as Bybit and KuCoin has further constrained token liquidity and accessibility,” said the zkLend team.
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“This development significantly limits our capacity to effectively allocate toward any new initiatives.”
The team now plans to allocate its remaining $200,000 in treasury funds to a user recovery fund, prioritizing compensation for affected users over any attempt to relaunch or continue development.
The protocol will keep its DeFi Spring, recovery, and kSTRK portals open so users can unstake assets or claim remaining balances.
